Using the patient's medication history as a learning tool in clinical pharmacology instruction for dental students.

The purpose of this study was to determine if a pharmacology medical history assignment would enable dental students to demonstrate improved knowledge and understanding of pharmacology by researching the drugs their patients were taking and recording pharmacological information in their patients' health records. The study followed a pretest-posttest design and evaluated students' knowledge of ten commonly prescribed drugs. Students were given the pretest prior to entry into the clinic. Subsequently, for an eight-month period, students completed the medication history assignment. Pretest and posttest scores were compared and analyzed with one-way ANOVA and Pearson product moment correlation statistics. The Pearson product moment correlation showed a positive correlation between the drugs per patient and the change in score between the pre- and posttests (correlation coefficient=0.254, p=0.016) and between the assignment grade and the change in pre- and posttest scores (correlation coefficient=0.198, p<0.001), as well as a significant correlation between the number of times a drug was charted and the change in score on the pretest-posttest item concerning that drug (correlation coefficient=0.798, p=0.006). By documenting patient drug information, dental students can improve their pharmacology knowledge base and enhance their potential to positively impact patient care and safety.